


Set Me Free (Like A Wildfire)

by Damalia (Achrya)



Series: EreminAU week, 2016 [2]
Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: First Kiss, First Love, Insecurity, Language, Love Confessions, M/M, Minor Violence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-05-24
Updated: 2016-05-24
Packaged: 2018-06-10 10:39:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,017
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6953302
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Achrya/pseuds/Damalia
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Armin doesn't really have friends. Since his mother walked out, leaving him with his grandfather, he's preferred the company of books to that of people. When Mr. Smith makes him a deal, take another student classwork in exchange for some study guides, he meets Eren Jaeger (Violent. Angry. Probably insane.) and everything changes.</p><p>Eremin Week Day 2: Manga/Anime (My Little Monster AU)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Set Me Free (Like A Wildfire)

**Author's Note:**

> Title is from a Demi Lovato song. RIP my musical tastes.  
> This ended up being really really long (20 pages ish) so I broke it up. The second part needs a little work still but it'll be up soonish. I just have to work and wanted to be sure I got something up today.

Armin blinked up at the building in front of him then looked at the slip of paper in his hand. He was on the right street and the metal numbers fixed on the side of the building matched the address Mr. Smith had given him but...it was an arcade (slash batting cage slash go kart track according to the sign) not a place people lived. At least he’d never known anyone who lived in an arcade but, to be fair, Armin didn’t go out of his way to know a lot of people.

Maybe the address was a fake?

No, that was dumb, why would someone enroll in school with a fake address? And Mr. Smith had said he was sending Armin because Eren refused to see him so it stood to reason that the man had probably been here himself. Right? So he must have been sure about where he was sending Armin.

Hopefully.

He sighed and, crumpling the paper up in his hand, stepped up to the sliding glass doors. They opened silently, letting a gust of air conditioned air out, and he walked inside. The entrance was mostly barely, save another sign identifying the place as ‘Ackerman Arcade’ and giving prices for some of the attractions and a flight of stairs. He headed up, taking the stairs two at a time as his loaded down bag thumped against his leg with every step he took. He really hoped this wasn’t going to take long.

This wasn’t exactly what he wanted to doing with his afternoon but the offer Mr. Smith had made him, dropping off some books and homework to another student in exchange for some new, nicer, study guides had been way too good to pass up. He needed new ones, especially for Calculus, if he was going to do well on the upcoming exams and he just didn’t have the money for the ‘nice’ ones. Most of the money from his part time job was being saved up so he could go to cram school after summer break and it was already going to be a near thing. He couldn’t really afford to deviate from his carefully laid out financial plan.

Besides it wasn’t like this place was all that out of his way and, technically, it was just dropping off homework which wasn’t that big a deal.

Or it wouldn’t have been if he wasn’t dropping off the homework to Eren Jaeger, who was generally considered to quick to anger, violent, and completely insane. In fact the whole reason Armin was here, bringing him his classwork, was because Eren refused to return to school now that his suspension for beating up two older students was over, or so Mr. Smith had explained it. Everyone know about the ‘fight’ if you could call Eren completely decimating two older boys a fight, and rumor had it the attack had been totally unprovoked and unjustified.

Armin figured that was unlikely considering they were letting him back into school and the other two boys had also been suspended but he didn’t really know one way or the other.

There were also rumors, from people who’d gone to the same junior high school as Eren, that he’d been weird and violent then too, often getting into fights. He was supposed to be some big, gloomy, anti-social freak, more or less. Armin didn’t know anything about that either, since he’d gone to a different junior high, and he’d certainly never gone around trying to verify any of that stuff. He generally preferred to keep to himself and focus on his school work, not gossip.

If he was going to get accepted into a college with a great Pre-law program and get the scholarships he was going to need to pay for it he couldn’t let himself be distracted by other people’s drama. Or other people in general.

He was supposed to sit next to Eren in school but he’d never actually seen him. Aside from it being their first year in high school Eren had managed to earn his month long suspension on the very first day of school, before even making it to homeroom. Add that to the fact he apparently refused to return and that made for one ‘mystery’ classmate. Not that Armin had thought much on the strange boy who was supposed to be sitting next to him or anything.

If anything it was nice to not have someone trying to copy off of his papers for a change of pace.

There weren’t many people on the upstairs level: a small group crowded around a pool table and a few people in an area that was full of arcade games, all intent on the flashing screens in front of them and tapping furiously at the controls. There was a countertop right by the entrance; there was a man behind it wiping the surface very intently. He was short, maybe even shorter than Armin was, with bored gray eyes with heavy dark bags underneath them and neatly styled black hair. He looked official enough, even though he was wearing an oversized hooded sweatshirt and jeans, so Armin headed over to him.

The man’s eyebrow went up in silent question when he noticed him. “Yeah?”

“Um. Hi, I’m Armin Arlert. I go to Sina High and I’m looking for Eren Jaeger-”

A shout cut him off. He turned, startled by the furious noise, just in time to see a teenage boy stumble and then crumple to the floor dazedly. Another boy was standing over him with his face twisted up in outrage as he pointed towards one of the video games.

“You! It’s your fault Mario died!”

Armin followed the boy’s finger towards where one of the game screens was completely dark, save a yellow and red GAME OVER flashing in the center.

“Oi, brat!” The man behind the counter shouted. “I told you to control yourself in here or else!”

“Levi,” The boy frowned deeply as he stepped over the downed teen to slink over to the counter. Armin took a step back, swallowing thickly. “My game-”

“You can’t blame your shitty gaming on anyone else. You just suck.” The man rolled his eyes. “For fuck’s sake Eren, what am I going to do if you beat up all of my customers?”

This...This was Eren? Armin tried to look him over quickly and discreetly, trying to decide if he was as scary as all the rumors. He was taller than Armin, but then again who wasn’t, with light brown skin, messy dark brown hair that was falling into piercing green eyes. He wasn’t exactly ‘big’ but his arms were muscular and his sleeveless shirt was just tight enough to give the impression of being pretty built overall. The way he was pouting now, lower lip poked out, didn’t seem very intimidating but then again-

Armin glanced at the guy who was still on the floor and showed no signs of getting up any time soon and let the livid expression Eren had just been wearing replay.

He could see scary.

“Anyway, here. You have a visitor.”

“Hmm?” Eren turned towards him. Green eyes focused on his face for a moment then darted down before widening in alarm.

Armin looked down as well but all he saw worth noting was the school crest sewn onto the front of his blazer. He looked back up...only to find that Eren had not only practically flown to the other side of the room but was climbing out of a window. Armin’s mouth dropped open as the other teen hopped out of the window and out of sight.

What the hell?

They were on the second floor?

What the fuck?

“There’s a fire escape.” The man behind the counter (Levi?) said. “He does that a lot.”

Armin nodded haltingly, suddenly able to see where Mr. Smith might have had trouble getting ahold of Eren. Thankfully he wasn’t a teacher and (sort of terrible) guidance counselor who was obligated to actually talk to anyone!

He reached into his bag and pulled out the spare history book, math workbook, and thick stack of papers he’d been given. “Here. This is for him.”

The hell he wasn’t still getting his study guides just because Eren Jaeger was some window hopping nutjob.

Armin was all too happy to leave the arcade and head home once he got a dour looking Levi, who’d grumbled about not being ‘that fucking brat’s mailbox’, to take the stuff he’d brought. He hadn't really wanted to make this trip to begin with and watching someone jump out a window had only made him want to get away that much faster. It was just-

He was jarred from his thoughts as a hand wrapped around his wrist and pulled him into one of the hedges lining the street. The whole world spun and tilted and when it finally stopped moving he was on his back, legs splayed open, with the very boy he’d watched jump out of a second story window between them.

Eren was so close that Armin could see flecks of gold in the green of his eyes and smell what he was pretty sure was grape bubblegum on his breath. Yet, in spite of the already alarming closeness, Eren leaned down until their noses were touching. His hands were pinning Armin’s wrists to the ground and they were nearly chest to chest, Eren’s knees dangerously close to some sensitive bits.

“Hey,” Was breathed urgently against his lips. Armin’s fingers dug into the earth under him; what the hell was going to happen now? He was now pretty sure that all the rumors about Eren being kinda crazy were true but…was he some kind of pervert too? “Are you a spy for the school?”

“…what?”

“Don’t play dumb!” The grip on his wrists went from merely pinning to squeezing painfully. He winced and shook his head, heart leaping in fear.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about and _you’re_ hurting me!” He said, tugging on his wrists to make his point. “I was just dropping off some school work.”

“Huh? School work?” His wrists were released as Eren sat back, head cocked to the side like a confused dog. Armin didn’t hesitate to use his sudden freedom to scramble away across the grass until he was far out of Eren’s reach. “You aren’t lying to me?”

Armin shook his head vehemently as he clutched his bag to his chest. What was this guy’s problem anyway? Who just grabbed people off the street like that? And accused them of being spies? And for the school at that!? Why the hell would anyone from the school want to spy on Eren; the joy of watching someone jump out of windows and act like a freak?

Eren was suddenly sheepish, rubbing the back of his head while he rested back on his calves. “Sorry, about that. I thought you were here for Erwin, to try and get me to go back to school.”

“Erwin?”

“Oh. Mr. Smith. The guidance counselor.” He made a face as he said the teacher’s name, nose scrunching up like he’d smelt something rotten.

Armin set aside that Eren was apparently on a first name basis with a member of their school’s staff and, after a moment of thought, decided it was best to not admit he had been sent by Mr. Smith. No reason to get himself back in trouble now that he was out of it. Instead he nodded his understanding while slowly pushing himself to his feet. Maybe, if he went slowly, he could creep far enough away to make a run for it.

“Hey!” Armin jumped at the sharp tone. “What’s your name?”

He hesitated, looking around the grassy little enclosure they’d fallen into. It looked like one of those ‘green spaces’ that were cropping up everywhere downtown, a random patch of grass lined with bushes on all sides and having a few benches for sitting. There was a break in the hedges not too far away but he wasn’t the most athletic and Eren looked like he worked out. Better to just play along until he got a little more space between them.

“Armin Arlert. We’re in the same class...kind of.”

“Armin Arlert.” Eren said it like he was trying the name on for size, drawing it out and twisting it strangely. Armin took another step back. “So this like...when someone gets sick and a friend brings them their work?”  

Armin wasn’t sure what to say that that. It was sort of like that except they weren’t friends and he wasn’t sure if that was a thing people actually did because he didn’t really have friends and hadn’t taken a day off from school since moving in with his grandfather in fifth grade. But he was just going along with whatever, right? Right.

He nodded and took another step back, finally on the other side of the clearing and back onto concrete.

“I guess that makes us friends then.” Eren flashed him a bright smile. Armin’s brow furrowed. What? No. What was wrong with him? That wasn’t how that worked! And..whatever. It didn’t matter. It wasn’t like he was ever going to see Eren again; he had no reason to come back over here and Eren didn’t seem all that inclined to come to school so.  

He turned on his heel and started quickly walking away.

“Bye Armin.” Eren called after him. He couldn’t quite resist the urge to turn around; Eren was waving at him enthusiastically. “See you soon.”

God he hoped not.

\----

“These are the ones I want.” Armin said as he dropped his phone, already on a school supply website with the guides he wanted added to a wishlist, on the guidance counselor's desk. Mr. Smith’s thick eyebrows rose almost into his hairline as he picked the device up to look at it.

“These are...pricey.”

Armin shrugged. “You said any 3 study guides if I ran your errand which I did. Those are the ones I want.”

Mr. Smith looked at for a moment, simply regarding him carefully, then nodded once before  reaching for a pen and a notepad. Armin watched as the names and serial numbers for the books were taken down, making sure that all the details were correct, before taking his phone back and stashing it in his pocket.

“I’ll have them for you by Friday. I appreciate you going to see Eren for me; I haven’t been able to get further than the front desk without him locking himself in the bathroom or jumping out the window.” Mr. Smith said, smiling wryly. “How did it go with him?”

Armin lifted a shoulder in a half shrug. “Fine? He said we were friends.”

Blue eyes widened fractionally and then Mr. Smith was leaning forward in his seat, a jovial smile in place. Warning bells started going off in Armin’s head. “You must have made quite the impression on him Armin, I’m very impressed with you. Do you think it would be possible to try and persuade Eren to return to school?”

Armin shook his head. For one he had no intention of ever seeing Eren Jaeger ever again and for two: “Why would he listen to me if he won’t listen to you?”

“Ah. Well, he spoke to you for starters.” Mr. Smith folded his hands together on the table top. “And he doesn’t trust any of the staff here after what happened with his suspension. While it’s true Eren got a little carried away it turned out the upper classroom were trying to steal his money, which puts them at fault. Unfortunately Eren’s reputation, and the fact he was mostly unharmed, caused the teacher who wrote him up to disregard his version of events. Principal Zackly handed out the suspension, by order of the superintendent, without ever actually speaking to Eren. It took this long just to sort the matter out properly.”

That was...pretty messed up, actually. While there wasn’t anything that could make Armin stop coming to school he could sort of see why, for someone else, that would make them pretty wary of returning. Most people wouldn’t want to come to a place when no one had been willing to hear them out and such a harsh punishment had come down unfairly.

“If Eren quit school over this I’m not sure anyone involved would be able to sleep at night.” Mr. Smith admitted, looking incredibly tired for a moment. “So, if you could try and speaking to him?”

“I refuse.” He saw where Mr. Smith was coming from here as well; having a student give up on their education because of the errors of teachers was probably a worse case scenario. Yet, as much as he understood that, there was no way he was dealing with Eren Jaeger again.

The experience had left him looking over his shoulder the entire walk home and thinking about those bright green eyes, and how easily he’d been pinned to the ground and made helpless, late into the night.

“You refuse?” Mr. Smith asked, looking faintly surprised. “Even if I offered you more study guides?”

Mr. Smith was, clearly, more shrewd that most teachers were. Instead of trying to appeal further to Armin’s ‘goodness’ he was going right for bribery. He respected that and, after only two meetings with the man, could easily understand why Mr. Smith was so admired by the upperclassman.

“Absolutely not.” He said while shaking his head. A shrill bell, announcing the end of the day, rang. He’d never been so grateful to hear it before. “I have to go, so I don’t miss my train home.”

Mr. Smith sat back in his chair and smiled again. “I understand. Have a good day Armin.”

He nodded then hurried out of the man’s office and into the hallway which was already incredibly loud and teeming with other students. His last period of the day was a study hall that he usually spent studying in the library, so he’d already been to his locker and gathered what he needed to take home for the day. That allowed him to avoid all the craziness that happened after school and get down to the train station ahead of the school crowd. His class schedule, just like everything else in his life, was carefully planned and structured.

His grandfather said it was strange to go around planning everything but Armin had found that, after his mother had more or less vanished into thin air leaving him to jump every time the front door opened or the phone rang, that knowing what to expect and when was very comforting. He hated not knowing things and he despised surprises more than anything else in the world.

So to say he was less than pleased when, after crossing the street and heading down the sidewalk, a hand clamped onto his mouth and yanked him hard enough to take him off of his feet as he was hauled down an alleyway, would have been an understatement.

Overwhelming terror would have been far closer to describing his initial emotion. The hand on his mouth held tight, muffling any sound he could make, and another gripped his wrist as he was dragged back against a hard, warm body. He stomach twisted then clenched as his heart started beating hard.

Oh god what the was

“Quiet.” An eerily familiar voice whispered in his ear. He whipped his head around to stare up into green eyes. “Make a peep and I’ll _hurt_ you. Understand.”

Armin nodded to show that yes, he absolutely understood. This was who Mr. Smith wanted him to convince to come back to school? This psycho who grabbed people in broad daylight and threatened them? Seriously?  

“Good.” With exaggerated slowness and a a look that promised swift punishment if he stepped out of line, Eren let him go. Armin jumped back, plastering himself against the wall, and looked around frantically. Other students were trickling past the mouth of the alley, seemingly unconcerned that one of their own had just been snatched.

Typical.

“Follow me.” Eren said as he gestured towards the other end of the alley. Armin stared at him in disbelief.

“No.”

Eren looked taken aback for a moment then frowned at him, eyes narrowing. “What do you mean

‘No’?”

“I mean no. You just threatened to hurt me,” And he really didn’t want to know what that entailed. “Why would I go somewhere with you alone? That just makes it even easier for you to do something to me.”

That just didn’t make any sense.

“Uhm.” Eren’s face screwed up in confusion. Armin could practically see the wheels turning in his head as he thought it through.

He glanced back towards the road he’d been snatched from again. Maybe if he shouted for help someone would come before Eren could manage to do anything to him? That was probably his safest best wasn’t it? Yes, that was-

“Look, just come with me. I’m not really going to hurt you, I just said that so you wouldn’t scream.” Eren reached out and, before Armin could flinch away, had taken his hand in his much larger one. He started walking, all but dragging Armin after him. He tried to dig in his heels at first, unwilling to go, but it didn’t do much good and after a few stumbles and impatient sighs he gave up and started walking normally.

He considered shouting and making a scene in hopes one of the people they walked past would do something but, for reasons he couldn’t quite define or begin to justify himself, he didn’t.

They ended up walking down an embankment by one of the many rivers that cut through the city, walking through tall untamed grass, before Eren finally let him go. The sun was starting to set, indicating they’d been walking a while, and there was a chill in the air. He looked around as he pulled his blazer tighter around himself.

“Why did you bring me here?” He couldn't imagine anything good could happen here in this stretch of generally ignored land. There was a bridge close by and there were cars occasionally going by on the road at the top of the embankment but he doubted anyone would be able to hear or see anything if Eren did something.

This had been so stupid.

“I found a dog on the way over.” Eren said as he weaved through the grass. “So I hid it here.”

“A dog?” Armin echoed, confusion increasing. They were here for a dog? He’d been dragged partway across the city like...well, like he was a dog on a leash so he could see some stray dog Eren had found?

He had homework! And studying! So much studying! Eren was lucky this wasn’t one of his days to work because at this point he would have been late for his shift and for what?

A dog that, he realized as he followed Eren under the bridge, was *not* a stray. It was a large black dog, tied to a post that had been driven into the ground and not only was it wearing a collar but it had a decorative chain and pendant around it’s neck too. Eren bounded over to it, looking immensely pleased, and the dog yipped happily. When Eren crouched down in front of the animal it lept up and began licking his face. Armin wrinkled his nose in disgust.  

“That,” Armin said as he crossed his arms over his chest. “Is not a stray. You need to find out who it belongs to.”

Eren and the dog stared at him wearing twin expressions of confusion. Armin bit his lower lip to control the urge to shout. He was going to...do something to Mr. Smith. Report him for student bribery maybe? He wasn’t sure yet but he had to do something to the man for introducing *this* to his life.

Eren straightened up and took a step towards him. “Are you cold?”

Armin was not a violent person by any stretch of the imagination. He’d even been picked on in elementary school for being smaller than the other boys and being ‘girly’, but even then he’d never been one to fight back. But, as Eren crossed over to him, he really wanted to punch him. It was a fleeting desire washed away when Eren suddenly stripped out of his own sweatshirt and draped it around his shoulders. He looked down at the soft gray fabric, so large he felt a little like he was drowning as it settled around him. He watched mutely as long fingered hands worked to connect the zipper then pulled it up all the way. He looked up, blinking dumbly.

To find Eren smiling at him broadly. It changed his entire face when he did it; he seemed to simultaneously light up and become younger all with one gesture. His eyes brightened as lines appeared around the corners.

It was such a surprise to see that he couldn’t even think of anything to say as his hand was once again taken hold of and he was led closer to the dog. “I know it’s not a stray, I’m not dumb. I just thought you could help me get it home.”

Well. That made more sense than thinking the thing was stray at least. Armin had no idea why Eren couldn’t have gotten it home on his own but...he was here now.

“I can do that.” He mumbled.

A few phone calls, a walk to a park to meet up, and roughly an hour later found them dog free in the lobby of a burger place with Eren insisting on paying for his meal. Armin wasn’t really comfortable with the idea...but he also didn’t have any money of his own and it was past his usual dinnertime. It was actually dark out. And he still hadn’t done any homework.

And, in what he could only be called a strange occurance, four other teens walked into the restaurant and headed straight for them. One, a large girl with freckles and brown hair, plopped into the booth right next to Armin. He scooted away, tucking himself in the corner, and tried to shrink down into the much too large hoodie he was still wearing.

Another one, a petite blond, put her hands on the table and leaned forward some, icy blue eyes zeroing in on Armin despite his attempts to go unnoticed. “Eren, who’s this?”

“Hmm?” Eren swallowed his mouthful of fries then flashed that bright smile of his again. Armin stared down at his tray; something about that smile was making him feel strange. “My friend Armin. We go to school together.”

That actually wasn’t strictly true but he didn’t see a reason to argue the point. He nibbled at his burger and hoped the conversation would turn elsewhere.

The girl made a noncommittal noise but continued to stare at Armin with narrowed eyes. It was maybe the third most uncomfortable moment of his day. He popped a fry in his mouth and resolved to ignore her.

“Hey Eren,” The girl next to him said, drawing attention to her. “Do you think I could get a few dollars.”

“Again?” Eren asked, suddenly toneless.

The girl sighed mournfully. “Yeah. My parents are being weird again and I’m broke but I really wanted to take Historia out this weekend so I was hoping you could help me out. I mean. We are friends right?”

Armin watched through lowered lashes as Eren handed over a mess of bills and mentally re-evaluated the other’s ‘not dumb’ status. Because that was pretty dumb. Admittedly Armin wasn’t all that great with people, and didn’t aspire to be, but even he could tell when someone was being blatantly manipulated.

There was a little small talk after that, with Eren introducing the others as Ymir, the girl next to Armin, Annie, the blond, Reiner and Bertolt, two large unspeaking figures standing just off to the side, but the group made excuses and left relatively quickly. No doubt they no longer wanted to hang around now they’d gotten what they’d wanted.

He chewed slowly, turning what he’d seen over in his head.

“So. How was school? Anything interesting happen?” Eren asked after they’d lapsed into silence. Armin finally stopped staring at various points on the table to stare at the brunette in silent question. “I’m just...that’s what people do, right? When they hang out after school?”

He was sort of skeptical about people talking about school after they got out of school but, again, he wouldn’t have known.

“If you want to know what school is like you could just go.” He pointed out.

Eren scowled at him darkly and a chill ran up Armin’s spine. Just as he was starting to think that maybe he should have said something different instead of basically doing what Mr. Smith had asked of him earlier (and without securing some form of payment too!), Eren sighed loudly and slunk low in his seat.

“Everyone is always afraid of me for some reason. At my last school everyone avoided me because they thought I was crazy or something.”

Armin bit the inside of his cheek to keep himself from saying something to the effect of ‘I can’t imagine where they would get that idea’. No reason to get on Eren’s bad side in the middle of what seemed like some kind of heartfelt emotional moment.

“You’re actually the first person to ever come to my house like that. And those guys,” He made a gesture with his hand to indicate where the group of four had been a few minutes ago. “Were the first people who hung out with without being afraid. So maybe I don’t need school or other people now.”

Armin didn’t follow that logic at *all*. Especially since he doubted Eren’s other ‘friends’ were actually his friends at all. But that wasn’t his business. It wasn’t like he was really Eren’s friend either he was just...the victim of a kidnapping. Or something like that. He wasn’t willingly hanging out with someone who’d basically attacked him twice, threatened him, and was generally a big weirdo.

They weren’t friends so what went on with Eren’s little group didn’t involve him. There was no reason to get involved or say anything about it. Nothing could possibly be gained for him.

Eren was smiling again, easy and bright. Armin’s stomach flipped.

He set his burger down. “You know people who were really your friends wouldn’t use you for money. Not that I have friends either but I think it might be better to have none than to have ones that use you like that.”

Eren’s mouth tilted down into a frown. Armin looked down again, holding his breath as he waited for the other’s reaction. This was the part where Eren thanked him for being honest right? That was how it worked on TV at least.

Eren shifted across from him and then there was icy wetness pouring over his hair, face, and down his shirt. The cold was sudden and intense, making him shriek as he jumped to his feet, nearly sending his tray flying and jumped out of the booth. Orange soda and ice tumbled onto the floor and out of the folds of the sweatshirt.

Eren stood there, holding the cup he’d upended on him, but wasn’t looking at him so much as past him. The cup was set down carefully and then Eren was brushing past him and heading for the door.

“You’re a bad person.” Was said so softly it took him a second to even register it.

And then he was angry. He was a bad person? HIM? The one who’d been grabbed, forced to talk over the city, helped that moron find that dog’s owners, and then tried to do a nice thing in telling him the truth? He was the bad one?

Bullshit.

He was snatching up his milkshake and running after Eren before he’d even realized he’d done it. One step out the door and he threw the cup right at the back of the other’s head, something childish and satisfying surging up in his chest when it popped open and vanilla sludge rained down over Eren’s head.

It was a short lived moment. Eren turned slowly, teeth bared and eye twitching, and Armin remembered that he was actually severely outmatched in this situation. So he turned and ran down the sidewalk, pushing his way past all the people who had stopped to stare. His feet pounded the pavement in time to the pounding of his heart.

The trip home was a blur, though he was dimly aware of people staring at him on the train. He was, after all, wearing a sweatshirt that was far too large and dripping orange soda from his hair. He would have stared as well.

His grandfather wasn’t home, thankfully, so he was able to strip down and drop everything into the washing machine before jumping into the shower to scrub away all the syrupy sweetness, bits of fuzz from his clothing, and random dirt and grime he’d picked up, off of his skin and out of his hair.

This was so...what the hell was Eren’s problem anyway? All he’d done was tell the truth like everyone had always told him was supposed to do. So what had he done wrong? How was he a ‘bad’ person in this? If anything Eren’s other ‘friends’ were the bad ones. They were the ones using him like that, not Armin.

And find, maybe it sucked hearing that his friends weren’t really his friends but...so what? Did Eren really want people around him so badly? Armin didn’t have people around, hadn’t had any real friends since his mother had ~~left him~~ gone missing, and he was just fine. He was happier that way, honestly. No distractions, no drama or gossip, no one to be worried about, no one to mi-

He paused in his frantic scrubbing of his hair, just letting the water pound down on him, trying to will himself to not chase that train of thought any further. Nothing good could possibly come from doing so.

And, anyway, who cared about Eren. He’d known him for all of a day. Not even, really, since that first encounter had only been for a few minutes and today had just been a mess.

It wasn’t like they’d ever be talking about after what had just happened so it didn’t matter why Eren had reacted like that. And it wasn’t his fault. And he hadn’t wanted to be ‘friends’ anyway. One day in Eren’s company and he’d been completely distracted from all the work he needed to do. He was going to be up for hours now.

He nodded to himself once, firmly. This was better.

\---

When he stumbled into the kitchen in the morning it was to find his grandfather awake and a certain sweatshirt folded up on top of the table. Armin stared at it through narrowed eyes. How had that gotten there? He’s sort of forgotten about it; after his shower he’d done his homework and gone to bed without even moving his clothes to the dryer and yet...there was Eren’s sweatshirt.

Taunting him.

“Oh! I finished your laundry and figured this must belong to a friend?” His grandfather said as he dropped a plate of toast and eggs in front of him. “So I set it out so you could return it.”

“Thanks.” Armin grumbled around a bite of toast. He stared hatefully at the sweatshirt all morning but, when it was time to go, he shoved it into his bag anyway. He would just drop it off at the arcade after school and then that would be the end of this strange little...thing in his life. Everything would go back to normal

 

**Author's Note:**

> If you aren't familiar with 'My Little Monster' I strongly recommend watching it. ...Not to understand this fic or anything, just because it's really awesome.


End file.
